Man, you thought a tornado was loud and wild. You should have seen the storm that blew through town Thursday morning. By the time I woke up, talk was all over the fellowship hall at Riverstone. Jake thought it was funny. Ron was embarrassed but also thought it was amusing. I overheard Ron tell Jake that he thought Willard or ‘Old man Jackson’ or whoever did this had really gone over the deep end.
You must be wondering what I am talking about. Newspaper clippings. At least photo copies of newspaper stories. About twenty of them. There was one on the front door of both Riverstone Baptist and the Methodist Church, the high school, Dairy Queen, the lawyers office, the cotton gin, the farm co-op store, and even the office to the almost completely torn down Sunset Motel.
One of the headlines said, “Lincoln Man Arrested and Questioned in string of Armed Robberies in capital city” Another one said, “Grand Jury Indicts Johnson on Drug Charges”. Both of them mentioned Jake Johnson by name. I guess he used to live in Lincoln, Nebraska. The funny thing about all of them is that any dates are marked out with a black marker. Real smart, huh? Someone is trying to ‘railroad’ Jake, but they are trying to make us think this is current news. I have heard Jake’s stories. These are at least twenty years old, maybe twenty-five.
Ron wanted to go tear all of them down, but Jake wouldn’t let him. He said he didn’t have anything to hide and this might be the best way for the town to learn all about him and get everything out in the open. I suddenly realized that the gossip would be flying all over town and I was probably missing a whole lot. I went to mom and asked her if there was anything around the Sunset I could do to help and she said ‘no’. She said that she had sifted through most of our room and didn’t have the heart to pick through it anymore. Whatever was left would be bulldozed. She warned me to not even go back there to help any of the other people because it was much too dangerous for a twelve year old to mess around in the rubble. So I headed off to Goldstein’s.
I walked in and was about to go to the fountain for a drink when I heard him, the man himself. I slid into the booth closest to me and hid the best way I could behind the book I brought.
“Now come on, Mr. James., your fingerprints are all over those posters. Are you going to deny you had anything to do with them?” I scooted up in my seat to look around the fake plant behind me to see who was talking. It was Chief Woodruff, head of our two man police force.
“I’m not saying a thing!” Willard blurted out. “Any one of a thousand people in this town could have put those around town, so get off my back.”
“Look Mr. James, I have already had four complaints from business owners who don’t want any part of your little quarrel over there at Riverstone. I think if you just came out and admitted it and apologized, most of them would just let it all blow over.”
“Let them complain. They can’t prove a thing,” insisted Mr. James. “But for your information, yes I do have a problem with this ‘Johnson’ fella’, but it is not a Riverstone problem, it is a problem for our whole town. If he is going around town selling drugs to our school kids, that will be a big problem for you and your precious little police force. I don’t trust the man, nor that new pastor of ours.”
“Give it a break, Mr. James. You know that man isn’t going around selling drugs. I’ve been out to that oil rig myself and seen Jake working. He’s a good, hard working welder who is an expert at what he does.”
“Well, what about that sleaze woman he is living with?”
“I don’t have a clue who you are talking about,” said Chief Woodruff.
“She and Mr. Johnson blew into town the same day two weeks ago. I’m pretty sure they are…”
“Pretty sure, what? Mr. James.” asked the Chief.
Willard leaned over and whispered to him. I couldn’t hear him, but it didn’t take long to find out.
“Well, what is it Mr. James? Are they ‘living in sin’ or are they ‘pretty sure’ living in sin. Make up your mind, sir. I pretty much suspect you are behind posting these news articles around town, Mr. James, but the only one I am talking about it with is you. I’m not spreading it all over town until I do have more evidence, or a confession. I would suggest that if you have a problem with Mr. Johnson or his friend, you go to them.” Chief turned and walked off and left Willard standing there by himself.
I didn’t want to leave now or Willard might know I was there listening. The front door opened and in walked ‘Old man Jackson’. He never looked my way.
“Did you do it?” asked Willard.
“Yes, it will be out tomorrow. We won’t let any tornado mess us up this time.”
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